The Dante Club, by Matthew Pearl

NOTE:  This is the second in a three-part series on Dante's Inferno.  Last month I posted information and discussion questions for Dante's Inferno and various bibliographies.  Next month look for a list of characters and questions for Dan Brown's Inferno.  This series is for my Library Book Club's "Dante Summer."

Characters

The Dante Club J. T. Fields – publisher of poets and for Harvard Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes – Professor, anatomy – Harvard alum James Russell Lowell – Professor and editor, modern languages and literature – Harvard alum George Washington Greene – Harvard alum – preached on Dante to veterans Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – professor Publishing House J. R. Osgood –senior clerk Samuel Ticknor – son of deceased partner, William D. Ticknor Cecilia Emory – clerk – kissed by Samuel Ticknor Dan Teal (Benjamin Galvin) – clerk – defended Ms. Emory and punched Samuel Ticknor Victims #1 – Artemus  Precott Healey - Neutrals – refused to sign Fugitive Slave Act and to argue on behalf of Dante to Harvard Board #2 – Rev, Elisha Talbot – Simoniacs – profited from selling religious artifacts and religious grants #3 – Phineas Jennison – Schismatic –created internal riffs #4 – Augustus Manning - traitor Nicholas Rey – detective, mulatto Willard Burndy – second-best safecracker, arrested for three murders Langdon Peaslee – safecracker Grifone Lonza – criminal who whispered Dante’s words to Rey and then jumped to death at police station Simon Camp – Pinkerton detective, hired by Manning

Harvard

Dr. Augustus Manning – treasurer of Harvard Corporation – against teaching of Dante Dante Students Edward Sheldon Pliny Mead Pietro Bachi – Italian instructor, banished by Vatican and fired from Harvard for intemperance and insolvency Professor Louis Agassiz – insect expert and faculty, accepted money for museum to side with Manning, participated in book burning

For discussion:
NOTE:  All page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1. In discussing the murderer and his relationship with Dante, Holmes stated that, “It would not be the first or last time that literature mastered a weakened mind.  Think of John Wilkes Booth.”  (page 170)  We usually think of the positive impact of reading, is there any negative impact?

2. Ticknor, the retired publisher, stated, “Shakespeare brings us to know ourselves. Dante, with his dissection of all others, bids us know one another, “and “I have tried to teach so many members of my family how Dante made me a better man, with little understanding.”   (page 227)  What positive influence might reading Dante have on an individual, positive or negative? 

3. Matthew Pearl stated that he had access to numerous journals, letters, etc. from the main historical characters.   Did you like the personalities the author gave to each one?  Do you think they were accurate?

4. One “rule” of mystery writing is that the crime is solved with the available evidence that was presented to the reader but that the reader does not solve the crime before the detective in the book.  Does this book follow that pattern?  Do you think it is a traditional mystery story?

5. Matthew Pearl stated that you do not have to know Dante to enjoy the book.  Do you agree or disagree?  Why?

6. Do you think the story could stand on its own without Dante?

7. How did your previous knowledge of Dante’s Inferno influence your reading of this novel?
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